RMAF 2017 Impressions

Disclaimer: All impressions from a noisy show floor and largely with unfamiliar rigs. Also, some of these are not new products, but stuff I hadn't heard before.

ZMF Auteur - Definitely a show highlight. Zach did a great job with these. I found the two pad variations left a little bit of emphasis either in the upper-mid or lower-treble, but they sounded kind of like an HD600/HD650 hybrid with less mid-bass and more bass extension. Yes, I do think they are better than the Eikon and Atticus so far.

Schiit Gadget - Honestly, I was so unfamiliar with the music, and there was too much background noise. I couldn't tell a difference. Or, if I did hear a difference, it was so subtle that I don't have real confidence I actually heard anything. But this is something I will definitely need to try at home before making any sort of judgement. I have faith in Schiit!

MrSpeakers Aeon Open - So, I actually gave Dan some feedback on a couple prototype iterations recently, and while the last pair I heard was near production, he was still tinkering up till RMAF. I really think the effort has paid off. The Aeon Open sounds pretty darn good! It kind of has the bass of the original Ether Open but with more Sennheiser-like treble in terms of balance. I personally like them with some extra front damping he had me try, which reminded me a bit more of my HD650. This is probably his most balanced sounding headphone yet, IMO, and well worth checking out.

MrSpeakers Electrostatic Headphones - From what I was told, and heard, these are much improved over any previous prototypes. I wasn't familiar with the rig at all or the music, but it sounded fine, I think? Good bass presence, didn't hear any major nasties in what various (unfamiliar) tracks I tried, so I think it's worth keeping tabs on.

Klipsch HP3 - Lots of bass, but the good kind you'd expect from this sort of driver. Midrange and treble seemed nicely balanced without the usual dips or brightness I've heard from Foster/Fostex/Denon variants. The reps shared a tip on how one could vent the pads to lower the bass, which could make for a killer sound. And, of course, the headphones are gorgeous. Tons of attention to little details, even in packaging. Really good if you want that sort of Fostex sound.

Focal Clear - Take the Elear, make the upper-mids less forward (or at least blend in more), somewhat fill in the nasty dips, make it sharper, clearer, and a bit brighter sounding, and just improve the sense of coherency overall, and you get the Clear. It sounded pretty good! Tonally it was more akin to the Elear, just less weird. But in terms of clarity and speed, it sounded more like the Utopia, but less lean, and less bright overall. Not bad! But, for my tastes, I'd still take the new ZMF.

Fostex T60RP - Still in development. They had two pairs with different tunings that they wanted feedback on. I thought one pair was a little U-shaped, but the other had too much bass bleeding into the mids despite having smoother treble. I'm a bit tired of these sorts of headphones myself, but the wood housing is nice, the pads are comfortable, and they have the potential to make them into a rather good sounding headphone. I'm happy they are actively seeking feedback.

HE-X v2 - Yeah, not new, but had really nice tone overall like the v1. Still sounded bad when turned up loud.

HFM Sundara - Finally, a HFM headphone with a sensible headband. And they're super light. They sounded kind of like an HE1000 without the nasty, splashy, ever-rising treble. They did have a bit of splashy, steely treble to them, but it was rather minor and only particularly noticeable coming from the HE-X. I thought they sounded good overall. Almost didn't work from my phone, since I had to maximize the volume. I hope these are priced well, since they listed the driver being thinner than the HE400 series. I hope they're trying to replace that line with this.

RE2000 - Not bad, but too bassy and a bit sizzly sounding for me. Probably good for loud commutes or something.

Massdrop Plus IEM - Tone was good, but a bit too bassy for me. More agreeable treble than RE2000 from a tonal perspective. HOWEVER, I just did not like the timbre. Everything sounded like it was playing from crinkled up paper, which got in the way of crisp sounding details and transients. NOTE: Anyone that knows me knows I do not like the timbre of basically any BA, multi-driver IEM. Something just doesn't work for me with them. I know a lot of folks really love them, so take their opinion over mine.

Advanced Alpha Planar - I think this is going to be $500 on Massdrop. Not bad overall, though not entirely to my tastes. Strong bass, but the treble was a bit too bright and sharp. U-shaped tone. Rather comfortable. Comes with two sets of pads. Later, I tried the non-leather pads, which helped dial in the bass and made them less bright sounding, but there was still some stuff going on in the upper end of the spectrum that wasn't quite my thing. They said these headphones work best with classical and jazz recordings, which I guess I could understand.

Advanced Semi-Open Planar - Will be a Kickstarter thing eventually. I thought these had a more neutral tone than the above, and they'll be a bit cheaper ($400?). Something in the midrange sounded a bit emphasized, which gave them a sort of hollow-ish sound. Still, it's nice to see a new company take on full-sized headphones, and their first attempts definitely don't suck even if they weren't for me.

Advanced M5 IEM - Sort of like the Massdrop Plus in tone, but maybe a bit more neutral (a bit less bass, slightly smoother treble). I think these are $400-500? Still, they have that weird multi-driver IEM timbre that I just do not like at all. But for those that are OK with it, it's possible this may be worth a listen.

Abyss Diana - Honestly, pretty damn good sounding. Very balanced overall. However, the pads are shaped weird and didn't want to fit me perfectly. Supposedly production pads will be better in this regard due to inner material. But, worst of all, the headband was rather flat/square and didn't have much in the way of cushion. I don't think I could wear these very long. And they're $3000. Still, I can't dismiss that they did sound quite good.

Well Milo - Zach had this at this table. It sounded pretty good on most stuff, but I hooked it up to my HD650 and can see why people don't like it. It's rather thick, warm, and a bit slow sounding. I mean, I thought it was OK, but not great. I guess it's solid state, so it's not bad for that. I think this would work well with specific amps.

Elekit 8600 (w/ Lundahl OPTs and stuff) - OK, a bit too soft and warm, but Victor did mention you can adjust settings, like output impedance, to change the sound. I think he had it a bit high. And the tubes are obviously rollable, so, you know...different sound from that. BUT, this had a lot of potential looking past that on the HD650. Even with the warmth and softness, it had a great stage, good sense of power, sounded clean, had good details (as far as I could tell), and just left me feeling good, is the best way I can explain it. I would love to play around with this, as I'm sure you could dial this in for a great sound. And the best part is he can build then with upgraded parts for less than $2K, it seems. Damn.

 

Told you the Diana was gonna be good. ; )

 

I think they said you could just use like 3M tape to give a hair of a gap between the pads and baffle. Helps vent more bass.

Just my phone. Galaxy S8+.

Nah, I forgot to look for that one. Spent more time talking to friends!

Back to HP3, I personally found the mids and treble rather balanced and smooth. Maybe a bit of tizz, but minor. YMMV. They were easier to listen to than the usual biocellulose stuff to me.

 

Yeah, but...how do you wear it with any mild semblance of comfort? That's my big hang up.

 

Yeah, that’s a bummer...

 

more of these shirts need to be for sale on CafePress at all times.
plenty more SBAF dudes would wear them if in production.

@Hands is entirely too sober for posting such a wide ranging (superb) overviews on hearing gear.
since i'm not. i won't type tonight.

my highlights were:
pyrate dudes at lunch.
@Tyll Hertsens asking us for $5 a year.
@Hands and @Elnrik loaning me closed cans.
@schiit at lunch doubling up with beer+coffee. da man.
@CEE TEE with awesome new Massdrops and asking for quality feedback
Zach ZMF talking white sox! baseball and knowing more than audio crap!
@baldr telling me "how the F*ck" to turn the knobs and switches up and down quickly on gadget.
and I swear if @cskippy started taking about how awesome his Aficionado is when mine is days away from shipping, well- um. oh nothing.

now back to Eikon with chartreuse.
fade to black.